Antenna for vehicle mounting



NOV- 2, 1954 w J RACE ETAL 2,693,333

ANTENNA FOR VEHICLE MOUNTING Filed May 29, 1951 Zy ENTORS. b62772 AZQCQ,BY Fran/56772Q 'Q United States Patent Oflice ANTENNA FOR VEHICLEMOUNTING William J. Race, Franklin Park, and Frank Smardo, Chicago,Ill., assignors to Motorola, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofIllinois Application May 29, 1951, Serial No. 228,882 1 Claim. (Cl.248-43) This invention relates to antenna mountings and moreparticularly to a mounting structure for supporting an antenna on thewall of a vehicle or the like at a selected angle to the wall.

In mounting an antenna on a vehicle wall, the contour of the wall at thepoint of mounting is frequently such that the antenna must lie at anacute angle to the wall in order to extend in the desired verticaldirection. In mountings heretofore proposed for this purpose, it hasgenerally been necessary to obtain access to both sides of the wall,such as a portion of the cowl or tender, in order to assemble theantenna thereon. This is frequently very diflicult and awkward, makingthe mounting of the antenna an expensive and troublesome operation.

It is accordingly one of the objects of the present invention to providean antenna mounting in which the antenna can be assembled and mounted onthe wall from one side only thereof and will be securely held at anydesired angle relative to the wall.

According to one feature, the antenna mounting is held on one side ofthe wall by a mounting member so shaped that it can be tilted andslipped through a mounting opening in the wall and will then tilt backto a position to engage the Wall.

In the preferred construction, the mounting member is formed of achannel shaped member with convexly curved, flanged surfaces to seat ona shoulder on the antenna rod in any one of a plurality of angularpositions.

According to another feature of the invention, a mounting ring ying atone side of the wall is formed with lugs to extend through the mountingopening and to engage the mounting member on the other side of the wallso that the parts can be adjusted to the proper location from theaccessible side of the wall.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will be morereadily apparent when read in connection with the accompanying drawing,in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view of an automobile having an antennaembodying the invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in side elevation showing the parts insection in disassembled position;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial section view showing the parts inassembled position; and

Fig. 4 is a partial section view along the line 44 of Fig. 3.

As shown in Fig. 1, the antenna may be mounted on any desired portion ofa vehicle body indicated generally at having a cowl 11 and fenders 12.In the installation shown, the antenna is mounted on the cowl at oneside of the body and it will be seen that at this portion of the bodythe cowl slopes both laterally and forwardly and is curved. Therefore,in order that the antenna mast indicated at 13 may project in a verticaldirection, it is necessary that the mounting engage an angular portionof the body wall and support the mast at an angle thereto.

As shown in Fig. 2, the portion of the body wall on which the antenna ismounted is indicated at 14 as lying at an acute angle to the horizontal.To mount the antenna, an opening 15 is formed in the body wall as bydrilling or the like. It is desired to maintain this opening relativelysmall and of just sutlicient size to enable the antenna parts to beinserted therethrough from the 2,693,333 Patented Nov. 2, 1954 outsideof the body without requiring any direct access to the interior of thebody.

The antenna, as shown, includes a supporting rod formed of a baseportion 16 and an upper portion 17 which are telescoped together andrigidly connected by a ring or pin. It will be apparent that the two rodportions could be formed integrally but they are preferably madeseparate for convenience of manufacture. The lower end of the baseportion 16 is connected to a cable 18 which may extend to a receivingset in the vehicle. Additionally the base portion 16 has pressed thereonan insulating collar 19 which supports a sleeve 21 formed with alaterally projecting annular shoulder 22. The upper portion 17 of therod is exteriorly threaded, as indicated at 23, and terminates in anextension 24 of reduced size on which the lower section 25 of the mast13 is secured. The mast section 25 is preferably tubular, as shown, toreceive upper sections telescopically so that the mast can be extendedfor use or can be retracted when it is not in use.

To secure the antenna rod at the lower side of the wall, a mountingmember 26 is provided. This member, as shown, is channel shaped insection and has its web cut out in its central portion to provide anenlarged opening through which the antenna rod may extend loosely. Atthe ends of the channel shaped member, the web connects the side flangesto form an integral unit. Preferably the side flanges extend upward inthe central portion of the member as indicated at 27 to extend throughthe mounting opening 15 to hold the member centered lengthwise in theopening.

The lower edges of the side flanges of member 26 are arcuately curved asindicated at 28 and are adapted to rest on the shoulder 22 or on thelock washer 29 supported thereon as shown. Due to the curvature of theflanges, the member 26 may rest against the lock washer or the shoulder22 in any one of a plurality of angular positions and will not tend totilt or slip on the shoulder. This enables the antenna to be heldsecurely in any desired angular position relative to the vehicle wall.

t the upper side of the wall an annular mounting ring 31 is providedwhich fits around the antenna rod. Preferably the lower edge of themounting ring is recessed to receive a sealing washer 32 formed ofrubber or the like which will fit tightly against the vehicle wall andseal it against ingress of moisture or foreign materials. mounting ring31 terminates at its upper edge in a concave annular surface 33 and atits lower edge is provided with a pair of downwardly projecting lugs 34which are adapted to extend through the mounting opening and overlie thesides of hte mounting member 26, as best seen in Figure 4.

The ball shaped mounting member 35 fits over the antenna rod above themounting ring and has its lower surface in a convex spherical form toseat against the and moisture seepage between the ball and the mountingring is prevented. The ball is held trim washer 36 which seats againstits upper end and which is engaged by a nut 37 threaded into thethreaded portion 23 of the antenna rod.

To assemble the antenna, the cable 18 and the lower end of the antennarod with the are inserted through the opening shown in Figure 2. Themounting member 26 may then be inserted over the rod and tilted thereonto the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. This member is narrowerthan the mounting opening 15 so that when tilted it can he slippedlengthwise through ends will engage the inner surface of the wall beyondthe opening. Thereafter the mounting ring, sealing washer and ballmember may be inserted and adjusted on the antenna rod and drawn uptight by the nut 37. At this time, the mounting member 26 will be drawntightly against the inner surface of the wall and the mounting ring andsealing washer will be drawn tightly against the outer surface of thewall with the ball member tightly engaging the mounting ring, Preferablythe mounting member is turned to a position such that it will be tiltedlengthwise but will be substantially horizontal widthwise when itengages the wall. Therefore the antenna can be held in the desiredvertical position during the tightening operation and when the nut 37 isfully tightened, the parts will be clamped securely together to hold theantenna rod and mast rigid on the wall. It will be noted that the lugs27 and 34 extending through the mounting opening insure properpositioning of the parts relative to each other and relative to themounting opening, so that the entire assembly can be put together verysimply and adjusted so there is no possibility of an incorrectpositioning of the parts. Furthermore, all of the parts can be assembledfrom the outside of the vehicle Wall so that the antenna can be mountedvery quickly and easily without the necessity of obtaining access to theinterior of the wall.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described indetail, it will be understood that this is illustrative only and is notto be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, referencebeing had for this purpose to the appended claim.

We claim:

An antenna mounting for supporting an antenna on a wall having anopening therein including in combination, an elongated structure adaptedto extend through the opening in the wall, said elongated structurehaving a circular cross-section, and having a shoulder portion and athreaded portion spaced to lie on opposite sides of the wall, anelongated channel-shaped mounting member having a pair of substantiallyparallel side flanges and an interconnecting web portion, said webportion having an elongated aperture therein to receive said structure,said elongated aperture in said web portion being substantially longerthan the width of said mounting member and being substantially longerthan the diameter of said elongated structure to render said mountingmember tiltable on said structure so as to enable said member to sliplengthwise through the opening in the wall, said 4 side flanges eachhaving an arcuately curved edge adapte to engage said shoulder portionand enable said mounting member to be positioned with respect to saidshoulder portion in any one of a plurality of angular positions with theends of said web portion engaging one side of the wall adjacent theopening, an annular mounting ring for receiving said structure andadapted to engage the other side of the wall around the opening, atleast one lug projecting from said annular ring and adapted to extendthrough the opening in the wall adjacent the outer surface of acorresponding one of said side flanges of said channel-shaped member toengage said corresponding side flange and permit positioning of saidchannelshaped member by adjustment of said ring, an annular mountingmember having an opening therein to receive said structure, said annularmounting ring and said annular mounting member having engaging surfacesof generally spherical configuration so that said annular mountingmember may be positioned in any one of a plurality of angular positionswith respect to the wall and yet maintain surface contact with saidannular mounting ring, and a fastening member threaded on said threadedportion of said structure and engaging said annular mounting member fordrawing said annular mounting member and said shoulder means towards oneanother so that said channel-shaped mounting member and said mountingring tightly engage the opposite sides of the wall adjacent the openingtherein rigidly to hold said structure on the wall at a selected anglethereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,197,052 Newhall Sept. 5, 1916 1,896,679 Olson Feb. 7, 19331,992,431 Key Feb. 26, 1935 2,252,671 Ludwig Aug. 12, 1941 2,454,897Trowbridge Nov. 30, 1948 2,499,137 Friedborg et al Feb. 28, 19502,524,534 Morris Oct. 3, 1950 2,536,053 Grashow Jan. 2, 1951

